A funny old day

Yesterday was a funny old day. Having woken at some unknown early hour to register that we were without power, we rose ready to start the new week without our daily shower – never a good start to the day. A call to “The Hydro” revealed that we might expect the electricity to return around 1pm. Mr L made the most of his inability to work by doing some odd jobs on the new van. I just spent my time wishing that I had put that last load of laundry on at bed-time…

I ventured forth to the shop but found little to buy, with the ferries apparently still being on two-boat operation with the Varagen away for mending, and matters further complicated by the need to ship generators out to four islands, the morning boat had not yet arrived. It appears that the electricity supply fault lies in the sub-sea cable.

Beeps, clicks and whirs happened a little after midday. We switched on our PCs and fifteen minutes later the power went down again, only the UPS machines had insufficient juice in them to shut the PCs down cleanly. We crossed our fingers. I cooked the lunch on a camping gas stove and Mr returned to the van.

I was making “green soup” to use up all the slightly wilted stuff that came back with us from our trip. Not having worked up the energy to shop on Sunday and having found nothing fresh in the shop, green soup was all that I could muster. It was a strange affair but tasty enough. Realising that I would not be able to blend the soup I had opted for using the hachoir to chop the green things finely before adding them to a potato and onion base – so, not really “green soup” but a mottled white and green thing.

Whilst we were away, Mr bought a newspaper. The Sunday Times – it had an article with Joanna Lumley in which she revealed that her daily evening meal is either red soup or green soup, basically made from all the red things in the fridge or all the green things. I thought it was just me. Glad I am not alone. Seriously though, using the colour scheme thing is a guarantee that a recipe-free soup remains good. Tomatoes, peppers, red onions… all go together really well, and almost anything green will blend in  to the other version. Yesterday’s soup was basically an aged bag of rocket and watercress salad but also received a head of little gem lettuce, some cucumber and the better end of a soggy courgette. Waste not, want not. Joanna failed to mention “white soup” which also works very well – potatoes, cauliflower, celery, onions, leeks, almonds… throw up some very tasty combinations.

But, I digress.

The power supply returned, I think around 2pm.

The day progressed – I carried on with my laundry as the day was fine and slightly breezy.

There was one very odd moment when I became positively anal after looking at the my line of washing. I had hung it out red, purple, orange, blue, indigo and felt an intense need to go and rehang in proper order. I think a lay down would have been appropriate at that point!

Mr L returned to work after his three weeks, plus half a day, break. He came grumping in to the kitchen, using the F-ing word. That’s not like him, he’s an educated man with a wide choice of vocabulary… but no, there it was, the F-ing word, delivered with emphasis and conviction and connected to the word “company”. It seems he is happy not to be working for them for much longer. Why? After over 30 years of employment, and 25 of those working at home, the company is pulling the plug on Telephone and Broadband connections. From the end of July all homeworkers have to fund and supply their own. No forewarning, no consultation, no reference to employment T&C’s. Just a bald announcement that the provision is being withdrawn.

It leaves us in a more than interesting situation, given that Mr L retires at the end of August.

At least we shall remain connected to the world for the duration of the 2016 MUMS Puzzle Hunt. The team is registered, 8 spaces remain – comment below if you wish to join us. Puzzle week begins 9th May.

Today is an even better day than yesterday and I have my final post-holiday wash load out on the line. Rejoicing won’t last long. Now I have to go and clean the van. Is it worth it, I ask myself – all the preparation workload and all the cleaning up after. Is it not just better to stay at home? “Heresy” says Mr L. Well, okay but he gets to sit at his desk and have coffee delivered. I am the one with the mop. It is well known that housework reduces me to tears of frustration.

Very little has been done yet with photos or Two Snails. Lack of electricity did not help. I promise to get around to it just as soon as I can. Right now I have to bake bread, cook a risotto, do the cat trays and bring the laundry in…